| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Definition | Literary criticism that situates texts in historical/cultural contexts • Emerged 1980s, primarily in Renaissance studies (Shakespeare) • Reaction AGAINST New Criticism (which ignored history) • BUT "New" because DIFFERENT from old historical criticism |
| Old vs. New Historicism | OLD Historicism: • History = background/context for literature • Literature REFLECTS history passively • History = knowable, objective facts • Literature subordinate to history NEW Historicism: • History and literature MUTUALLY CONSTRUCT each other • Texts don't just reflect but SHAPE history • History = textual, constructed, narrativized • No clear hierarchy: text = context, context = text |
| Name Origin | • Term coined by Stephen Greenblatt (1982) • Introduction to special issue of journal Genre • Described emergent critical practice |
| Theoretical Influences | • Michel Foucault: Power, discourse, episteme • Clifford Geertz: "Thick description" (anthropology) • Raymond Williams: Cultural materialism • Marxism: Ideology, base/superstructure (but modified) |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Renaissance Self-Fashioning (1980) | Foundational New Historicist book • Studied Renaissance literature (More, Tyndale, Wyatt, Spenser, Marlowe, Shakespeare) • Argued Renaissance "self" was FASHIONED, not natural/essential • Self = product of social/political forces • "Self-fashioning" = strategic construction of identity |
| Self-Fashioning Six Theses | Key arguments of book: 1. Self-fashioning = response to social change (Renaissance mobility) 2. Fashioned in relation to "Other" (usually threatening: Catholic, savage, woman) 3. Involves submission to absolute power (monarch, God) 4. Achieved through language/performance 5. Operates through control/discipline 6. Generates anxiety about identity's constructed nature |
| Anecdotal Method | Characteristic New Historicist technique: • Begin with ANECDOTE (strange, marginal historical incident) • Juxtapose with canonical literary text • Show unexpected connections, circulations of power • Example: Execution account + Shakespeare play • NOT illustration but NEGOTIATION between anecdote and literature |
| Social Energy | "How does culture get into texts?" • Texts acquire "social energy" from culture • Then CIRCULATE that energy back into culture • Texts = nodes in network of power/discourse • Shakespearean Negotiations (1988) |
| Subversion & Containment | Texts both subvert AND contain power • Shakespeare's plays: Seem to question authority... • ...BUT ultimately reinforce it • Subversion = ALWAYS already contained • Controversial thesis: Is resistance possible? • Critiqued by Cultural Materialists (Dollimore, Sinfield) |
| Power Everywhere | Foucauldian: Power circulates, NOT top-down • No "outside" of power • Even resistance operates within power • Theater = site of power negotiation |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Famous Formula | "The historicity of texts and the textuality of history" • Historicity of texts: Texts shaped by historical moment • Textuality of history: History knowable only through texts (narratives, documents) • No direct access to "history itself" - always mediated by representation • BOTH directions: History → Text, Text → History |
| Elizabethan Studies | • Studied Shakespeare, Spenser, court culture • Elizabeth I's "cult of the Virgin Queen" • Literature & politics intertwined • Gender, power, representation |
| Not Reflection but Production | Literature doesn't REFLECT ideology - it PRODUCES it • Texts = active agents, not passive mirrors • Shakespeare's plays SHAPED Elizabethan ideology • Circular: Culture produces texts, texts produce culture |
| Concept | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Thick Description | Borrowed from anthropologist Clifford Geertz • Detailed, contextualized interpretation of cultural practices • NOT just "what happened" but "what it meant" • Example: Geertz's analysis of Balinese cockfight • New Historicists apply to Renaissance texts/events |
| Cultural Poetics | Greenblatt's alternate term for New Historicism • Emphasizes AESTHETIC/POETIC dimension • Not just politics but how culture is IMAGINED, represented • Literature = privileged site of cultural imagination |
| Circulation | Ideas, images, energies CIRCULATE between texts and contexts • Not one-way (history → text) • Multi-directional flows • Texts = sites where cultural energies converge |
| Negotiation | Texts NEGOTIATE power, don't simply transmit it • Conflict, tension, compromise • Not mere propaganda • Complex relation to authority |
| Opacity of History | Past is NOT transparent, fully knowable • Always interpreted through present concerns • Our "history" = narrative we construct • Self-reflexive about historian's position |
| Parallel Reading | Read literary + non-literary texts TOGETHER • Shakespeare + medical treatises + court records + diaries • All texts = equal evidentiary status (NOT literature privileged) • Dissolves literature/non-literature hierarchy |
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Relation to New Historicism | British parallel movement, similar methods • More EXPLICITLY political than New Historicism • Key figures: Jonathan Dollimore, Alan Sinfield, Raymond Williams • More Marxist, less Foucauldian • Emphasizes class, ideology |
| Raymond Williams (1921-1988) | • Precursor/theorist: Culture and Society (1958), Marxism and Literature (1977) • "Culture is ordinary" - not elite but lived experience • Cultural materialism: Culture = material practice, not superstructure • Structures of feeling - emergent cultural formations |
| Jonathan Dollimore & Alan Sinfield | • Political Shakespeare (1985) - manifesto collection • Critique Greenblatt: Subversion CAN escape containment • Possibility of genuine resistance • More optimistic about political change • Focus on Shakespeare's USES (not essence) |
| Dissident Reading | Read AGAINST the grain, for subversive potential • Foreground contradictions, resistances • Shakespeare used for radical purposes • Not just what text meant THEN, but what it can mean NOW |
| Vs. | Distinction |
|---|---|
| New Criticism | New Criticism: Ignore history, text autonomous New Historicism: History essential, text embedded in culture |
| Old Historicism | Old: History = background; Literature reflects New: History/text mutually construct; No hierarchy |
| Marxist Criticism | Marxist: Base/superstructure; Economic determinism New Historicist: More Foucauldian; Power/discourse; Less economic focus |
| Formalism | Formalism: Aesthetic autonomy New Historicism: Aesthetic inseparable from political/social |
| Cultural Materialism | New Historicism: American, Foucauldian, subversion contained Cultural Materialism: British, Marxist, resistance possible |
| Critique | Details |
|---|---|
| Political Pessimism | • Subversion always contained = no real resistance? • Foucault's "power everywhere" = no escape? • Cultural Materialists: TOO pessimistic, overlooks genuine opposition |
| Anecdotalism | • Relies on quirky anecdotes • Cherry-picking evidence? • Questionable representativeness • "New Anecdotalism" (pejorative label) |
| Presentism | • Reading past through present concerns • Imposing modern categories (power, gender, etc.) anachronistically? • But: New Historicists ACKNOWLEDGE this (no neutral position) |
| Erasure of Aesthetic | • Treats literature like any other document • What makes Shakespeare LITERATURE? • Harold Bloom's complaint: ignores aesthetic greatness |
| Method vs. Politics | • Claims to be political/radical • BUT: Academic, professionalized • Does it actually CHANGE anything? |
| Part | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Anecdote | Begin with striking historical anecdote (execution, court ritual, marginal event) |
| 2. Literary Text | Turn to canonical literary work (often Shakespeare) |
| 3. Juxtaposition | Show unexpected parallels, circulations between anecdote and text |
| 4. Thick Description | Detailed analysis of cultural meanings, power relations |
| 5. Circulation | Demonstrate how cultural energies move between domains |
| 6. Self-Reflexivity | Acknowledge critic's position, interpretive limits |
| Question Type | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Term Origin | Stephen Greenblatt (1982) - special issue of Genre |
| Emerged When/Where? | 1980s, America, Renaissance studies (Shakespeare) |
| Greenblatt's First Book | Renaissance Self-Fashioning (1980) - foundational text |
| Montrose's Formula | "Historicity of texts and textuality of history" |
| Main Influences | Foucault (power, discourse), Geertz (thick description) |
| Key Concept | Subversion and Containment (Greenblatt) |
| Alternate Name | "Cultural Poetics" (Greenblatt prefers this) |
| British Parallel | Cultural Materialism (Dollimore, Sinfield, Williams) |
| Cultural Materialism Manifesto | Political Shakespeare (1985) - Dollimore & Sinfield eds. |
| Anecdotal Method | Begin with strange historical anecdote, juxtapose with literary text |
| Thick Description | From Clifford Geertz (anthropologist) - detailed cultural interpretation |
| New vs. Old Historicism | Old = history as background; New = mutual construction |
| Don't Confuse | Distinction |
|---|---|
| New Historicism vs. New Criticism | New Criticism: IGNORE history (1940s-60s, American) New Historicism: RETURN to history (1980s-90s, American) OPPOSITE approaches! |
| New vs. Old Historicism | Old: Literature passively reflects history New: Literature actively produces/shapes history (mutual construction) |
| New Historicism vs. Cultural Materialism | New Historicism: American, Foucauldian, subversion contained Cultural Materialism: British, Marxist, resistance possible Similar methods, different politics |
| Greenblatt vs. Montrose | Both major New Historicists; Montrose = theorist (formula); Greenblatt = practitioner (anecdotes) |
| Cultural Poetics vs. New Historicism | Same movement, different names; Greenblatt prefers "Cultural Poetics" |
| Historicity vs. Textuality | Historicity = texts shaped by history; Textuality = history known through texts (Montrose's BOTH) |
| Author | Work | Year | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stephen Greenblatt | Renaissance Self-Fashioning | 1980 | Foundational book; self as constructed |
| Stephen Greenblatt | Shakespearean Negotiations | 1988 | "Social energy," subversion/containment |
| Stephen Greenblatt | "Invisible Bullets" essay | 1981/1988 | Subversion contained in Henry IV |
| Louis Montrose | Various essays | 1980s | "Historicity/textuality" formula |
| Dollimore & Sinfield (eds.) | Political Shakespeare | 1985 | Cultural Materialism manifesto |
| Raymond Williams | Marxism and Literature | 1977 | Cultural materialism theory (precursor) |
New Historicism Complete - All 15 Paper 02 Syllabus Topics Finished!
Greenblatt | Montrose | Foucault | Geertz | Cultural Materialism